The Visit - Part II

Wait! Where is part one?! That was a couple of years ago, according to Jill. I have a sketchy memory at best, so I rely on Jill to be my memory in this case. Back in 2007 was the last time that I was in the great Midwest and visited some NDISB friends. Jill was one of them.

Back then, though, she was in some small town somewhere not too far from the Wisconsin - Illinois state line. Somewhere either north or south of Rockford, as I recall. Now Jill is in some small town in Iowa. I won't be more specific just in case Jill wants to protect her location from stalkers. (And let's face it... who wouldn't want to stalk Jill. I mean, after all, it is Jill we're talking about here.)

I was in St. Louis and needed to drive to Des Moines. I knew that Jill was somewhere in Iowa, but not exactly sure where. So I sent her a Private Message (PM) from the NDISB Forum to ask, and lo and behold, her small Iowa town was right on my route from St. Louis to Des Moines. I had some time on Friday morning, so me and Jill, Carter and Sawyer (Jill's "Jilldren" as a friend referenced them) all met to have coffee at Ping's Cozy Cafe. (Based on the photo, I get the feeling that it may have recently been a real estate office.) And Carter didn't really have coffee, he had some juice. And Jill had hot chocolate. And Sawyer had a pacifier. At least I had coffee.



We had a chance to visit for awhile, and I even got to hold Sawyer, who is all of two months old now. I forgot how little they weigh when they are this small. Sawyer was very well behaved and didn't squawk at all with me holding him. I don't think he ever took his eyes off of mom though.

Carter, on the other hand, is a five year old. Ping has this cute little living room style room set up in her Cozy Cafe that included a small love seat, and a couple of matching nicely upholstered chairs arranged around one of those fake fireplaces, with a fake fire inside. So Carter was sticking his hand inside the fire, trying to find the flames, and moving the fake brick hearth that was not fixed in place on the floor. You know... doing the things that five-year-old boys do. (Now imagine two of them doing that Jill. But going off in different directions at the same time!)

And Jill tried to convince me that she really does have a husband. She claims that last time, JB was off traveling somewhere, and that this time he was at work. I have yet to see any physical manifestation of the man though. Hmmmmm. (well... unless you count the kids...)

And when I talked to Theresa that evening, she said that it's not fair that I get to have met Jill twice now, and she has not done even once now. (I was thinking in British for that last sentence, as I saw SNL last night with Hugh Laurie, and he actually is British although he has a very good American accent and I just wanted to appeal to any Britishers that may be reading my blog.)

And all of this reminds me that I still need to put up photos of my trip to Idaho to visit Bob, only Bob was not there. I think that she heard that I was headed up that way and chose to leave before I got there. (Yes... Bob is a girl.) So that will probably be my next blog post. My visit to non-Bob in Idaho. Last November.

The Corollary

Corollary: 1: a proposition inferred immediately from a proved proposition with little or no additional proof 2: something that naturally follows

So, if there are many things that I don't know (which there are, I am somewhat reluctant to admit), the corollary must be, then, that there are some things that I do know.

One thing that I do know. Oases are cool.

"What?" I hear you thinking. (Yes... I can hear you think.) "Oases?"

Yes. Oases.

As you know, I am currently in the Midwest. More specifically the greater Chicago area at the moment. (Well... I was the last few days. Now I've moved on to Indianapolis.) And the greater Chicago area has a bunch of toll roads. A bunch.

I am generally not a big fan of toll roads.

First you have to stop. Then you have to open the window in your nice comfy car to the 17 degree fahrenheit outside temperature. And then you have to collect a receipt for your sixty or eighty cent toll (which I feel pretty silly about, but when you pay a lot of them, pretty soon you have lots of little receipts in your briefcase that end up getting wadded up into little balls, which you eventually just throw away anyway. At least I do...)

But... I was driving home (meaning back to my hotel) the other afternoon and I was hungry. And the Lake Forest Oasis appeared almost as a mirage... glimmering through the heat waves. Well... no. Not really. Just a bit of poetic license there. (It is, after all, an oasis. Says so right on the sign.)

So, what is an oasis on the Illinois Tollway? An urban rest stop if you will. But think rest stop on steroids. Straddling eight lanes of concrete with a gas station and car wash on either side of the freeway, the oasis spans the tollway in its own glass-walled, weather protected environment. Also a dual parking area on each side of the freeway large enough to accomodate semi-trucks on one side and the mere automotive traffic on the other allows easy access to this cocooned enclosure.

So what does one find in this travelers' delight? Coffee. The blood of every road warrior worth his or her salt. Starbucks franchises have discovered the Illinois Tollway. And donuts. Along with about a dozen or so fast food enterprises both local and national, that let you enjoy your Gyros sandwich as you watch the less hungry whiz by below you.

Alas, I did not discover this until after I left the Chicago area, but there is also free wi-fi! Free Wi-Fi! And how did I not discover this until after I left the area? Because I went to the web site to see about paying the tolls that I missed. The unmanned toll booths that want you to throw your change into a basket before you continue on your journey. Quite often I did not have the correct (or any) change, and as I saw others drive through, I figured I could do the same. The sign said, "Miss your toll? Pay online." So I figured that I could just go online, and they would tell me how much I owe. Ha! When I looked, this is what I found:

Have the required information available

• Name of registered vehicle owner
• Plate State/Number/Type (specialty plates must be identified)
• Missed Toll: Location/Plaza/Date/Time
• Print a copy of the confirmation page as your receipt

The only bit of information that I know is the state and number of my plate. Really.

I guess they'll have to hunt me down.

It was a nice Gyros sandwich though...

Things that I don't understand, Part II

Yeah, yeah... I know that I promised you the corollary to Things that I don't understand, but then I made my last post, and that got me thinking...

These don't really sound like the kind of people that take a five day cruise.

These sound like the kind of people that are doing 14 days in the Caribbean (and inquiring minds want to know... is it Ca-rib-be-an? Or is it Ca-ri-be-an. Not me... just those inquiring ones...)

So... these kids get there 40 bucks a day each to go blow on video games. And let's say that mom and dad have some restraint. Not much, mind you, but some. So they only give their kids their allowance for 10 days of the cruise. Now the video game money gets up to $1200. $1200!

So now we have the cost of the cruise, and the extra $1200 for Asteroids. What's that, you say? They don't play Asteroids anymore? Pac Man? What about Missile Command. I loved Missile Command! Surely, they play Centipede? Hmm... kids today.

And... as Jen asked (and yes Jen, you are one of the eight), what are they doing playing video games on a cruise anyway? If my kids are going on a cruise, they are going to be doing cruise things. (Having never been on a cruise, I don't really know what those things might be, but I'm pretty sure they involve something more than a television and a controller.)

Better yet, leave the kids at home with a sitter. (Spend the 1200 bucks on the sitter. She can probably use the money anyway.) And take the money that you saved on the kids cruise fare and squander it on yourself at the ships' casino!

Okay. I feel better now.